I had a similar problem. Rodents in the roof had chewed some of the wire. Telstra replaced it. Another time, it was a problem with the ISP and the ISP checked all the dial-up-networking settings and gave another dial in number to try which then worked OK.
Telstra's response to you was not good enough. Write a letter of complaint to them. It's easier to fob you off on the phone. Also you could get in touch with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. http://www.tio.com.au
Friend of the family gets in touch with ombudsmen with good success. He reckons that when the banking ombudsman writes to the bank on his behalf, the bank gets charged $200 per letter. I don't know if the same applies when the telecommunications ombudsman writes to Telstra.
Mind you, if I could get ADSL, I'd jump at it. But will be a long time before they upgrade the exchange I'm hooked into.
